Previous backers Sequoia Capital; Accel; GV (formerly Google Ventures); and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation also joined and so did Glade Brook Capital Partners. Credit: Chronis Yan on Unsplash

Ethos, a San Francisco-based insurtech start-up focused on life insurance, has secured $200m funding in a Series D round led by venture capital firm General Catalyst.

Previous backers Sequoia Capital; Accel; GV (formerly Google Ventures); and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation also joined and so did Glade Brook Capital Partners.

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The new infusion takes the company’s valuation to $2bn and its total capital raised so far to $300m.

General Catalyst partner Kyle Doherty said: “Traditional life insurance remains largely unchanged over the years.

“It’s an area that’s ripe for innovation, and Ethos’ successful execution demonstrates they are clearly ahead of all others in leading this digital transformation.”

Ethos aims to remove traditional barriers to life insurance leveraging machine learning and data science technologies.

Its focus is on offering faster service through a mobile-first, online application process and coverage without a medical exam for most customers.

The company has offices in Austin and Singapore in addition to its San Francisco base.

The firm said that revenue and users have jumped by over 500% year-on-year. It intends to issue $20bn of life insurance coverage this year.

Ethos CEO and co-founder Peter Colis said: “We are on a mission to protect the next million families and will use this money to continue improving the best insurance customer experience ever created.

“This funding will help us enrich our technology and data platform, and help us launch new products to enable everyone an opportunity to protect their families.”

Last month, AI-driven insurtech Gradient AI – also based in the US – received $20m funding in a Series B round led by American Family Ventures.

In the same month, Boston-based insurtech Wunderite raked in $3m in a seed round led by Spark Capital.